Simplify the following expression: $p = \dfrac{-8n^2 - 24n + 320}{n + 8} $
Explanation: First factor the polynomial in the numerator. We notice that all the terms in the numerator have a common factor of $-8$ , so we can rewrite the expression: $ p =\dfrac{-8(n^2 + 3n - 40)}{n + 8} $ Then we factor the remaining polynomial: $n^2 + {3}n {-40} $ ${8} {-5} = {3}$ ${8} \times {-5} = {-40}$ $ (n + {8}) (n {-5}) $ This gives us a factored expression: $\dfrac{-8(n + {8}) (n {-5})}{n + 8}$ We can divide the numerator and denominator by $(n - 8)$ on condition that $n \neq -8$ Therefore $p = -8(n - 5); n \neq -8$